Madison and Lee

How We Met

MADISON’S PERSPECTIVE: In August of 2014, I started teaching school in Athens and lived next door to Julie Rowland. Lee was in college at UGA and lived with Jordan Adams. Jordan was actually Julie’s boyfriend, which is how our paths crossed. One night Julie asked if I wanted to come over and hang out at her house with her, Jordan, and some of his friends. That is where I met Lee for the first time! We ended up talking for a good bit that night, and realized we had so many connections (mutual friends, both went to small GISA schools, etc.) For the next few weeks I randomly (which looking back now, it was not random at all) started running into Lee. He was at my pool one afternoon, and then he would just show up next door at Julie’s house. I remember saying to Julie, “Shaggy is kinda cute!” Shaggy was the nickname I gave Lee, because he was in dire need of a haircut when I met him. On September 20th, 2014, after UGA beat Troy 66-0, Lee and I were both in downtown Athens that afternoon celebrating the victory (but not together.) I knew Julie was with Jordan, which meant I knew Lee was somewhere with them. Lee also knew Julie was planning on meeting up with me that afternoon. All afternoon I was texting Julie things like, “Where is Shaggy?”, “Bring Shaggy to hang out with us later.”, “When are y’all coming to meet up with me?” The whole time I was texting Julie this, Lee was also asking Julie, “Let’s go hang out with Madison”, “Tell Madison to come hang out with us.”, “Where is Madison?” Finally, Julie had had enough of playing the middle man and decided for us to all meet up and hang out, and also decided to give Lee my number.

Lee and I remember that being one of the funnest nights of our lives. We danced, laughed, and talked for hours! We ended up spending time together EVERY SINGLE DAY following that night. We cooked dinner together, watched movies, and talked about anything and everything. Even though we were complete strangers, there were pieces of our blooming relationship that felt like they had been there forever. The following Friday night I had plans to see Futurebirds in concert at the Georgia Theatre with some of my friends. Not to be left out, Lee scalped a ticket with his friends and showed up at the concert. Later that night Lee asked me if I wanted to make this official and be his girlfriend. I remember him saying “I like you, and you like me…so let’s not beat around the bush, let’s just do this!” From day one I have always admired this special quality about Lee, if has feelings about something and wants something, he goes for it. After that night….I guess the rest is history!

how they asked

how they asked…(TOLD FROM LEE’S PERSPECTIVE) The day I proposed to Madison caught her so off guard. I had mentioned before to her details about how and where I would propose. I told her I would do it sometime in Saint Simons so she was constantly trying to keep an ear out for when we would plan our next beach trip. Saint Simons has always been special to us because that’s where I told her I loved her for the first time, so it just made sense that I would propose there too. But plans changed when I bought the ring about 4 weeks before and decided to ask her at my lake house at Lake Sinclair in Milledgeville, Georgia so she would be surprised. I told her the reason we were going to my house that weekend was for my Aunt Kelly’s Surprise Birthday party. The whole day my family was in and out of our house and back and forth to the lake house setting up for Kelly’s party, or so that’s what Madison thought. I was a nervous wreck all day and keeping Madison occupied was a difficult task. It didn’t help that every time Madison would walk away or we would be in different rooms, my uncles would ask me if I was ready or if I was nervous. I was so anxious and just counting down the hours until the party! I had the ring hidden in my house in the kitchen cabinet.

Before we were ready to leave for the party, Lindsey, Mary Catherine, and Will showed up to drive us to the lake. I gave Will the ring and when we got out at the lake Madison was on the opposite side of the car and Will quickly passed me the ring. Madison and I started walking toward the boat dock and all of a sudden I got even more nervous and started sweating pretty bad. It felt like the hottest day of the year (June 25th) which did not help my case and added to the nerves. Our family and friends were all watching out of site, either on the back porch or through the bushes with anticipation. I had always planned what I was going to say because I really wanted the moment to be special and something we could both remember forever, but when I got to the spot where I wanted to ask Madison to marry me everything I practiced went out the window. I just grabbed her hand and told her how much she meant to me. I could barely talk and I was just hoping she would understand what I was trying to say.

She didn’t quite catch on at first, she was just rambling on about our mannequin on the porch that we nicknamed “Toby.” Finally she realized what was going on and she instantly broke down. The next thing I remember cameras were flashing and I had finally asked her to marry me and she said yes! I put the ring on her finger and all of our family came running out to congratulate us. It was such an amazing and special moment. Afterwards we took tons of pictures, ate BBQ, and were able to catch up with our family and friends. I am thankful to have such great family and friends who helped make the engagement happen. It was truly a wonderful night that we will never forget!